THE candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Asue Ighodalo, has defeated the Labour Party candidate, Olumide Akpata, in his Unit 11, Ward 06, Polling Unit in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State.
Ighodalo won the unit with 41 votes while Akpata garnered 32 votes, according to Daily Trust.
The All Progress Congress (APC) candidate, Monday Okpebholo, came third with 19 votes, in the exercise held today, Saturday, September, 21.
Seventeen political parties are competing for votes in the poll, with three candidates – PDP’s Asue Ighodalo, APC’s Monday Okpebholo, and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP) – leading the race.
There are approximately 2.63 million registered voters but only 2.25 million of these have collected their permanent voter’s card (PVC), making them eligible to vote, according to data from the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC)
By this, the election in Edo would be determined by only 85.57 per cent of registered voters casting their ballot in 4,519 polling units across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state.
Security has been tightened in the state, as the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) deployed 35,000 of its officers, while other sister agencies, including the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), deployed 8,000 officers to the state.
As Nigerians await the poll’s results, The ICIR reported how Ighodalo said he hoped to win the election and succeed the incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki, whose two terms in office end in November.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) extended voting after the late commencement of the poll, occasioned largely by heavy downpours in the early hours of the election day.
The ICIR reports that the exercise has been generally peaceful, with the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arresting some voter buyers, and the police apprehending persons who sought to disrupt the exercise.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2023. Contact him via email @ [email protected]